Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-01-26

hundred and twenty-five millions of un
used, uDcalled for and nowhere needed
money Shut out of foreign markets BY
retailiatOry measures, the home market in
capable of taking our products, our labor
dissatisfied and combining against ou
interests. ne me must haue relief. We mus
have change of legislation, or sue piU har
q change Of Legislators. We must have ou
rights and our grievances red ressed, if neeo
he, regardless of party affiliations auc
trammels The life of our aling, as a,
integral part Of the nation, is in jeopardy
Farmers of America are you ready fo
farther oppression and serfdom
Gentlemen, at the late annual meeting OF
this body at st. Paul, which was, as Won
are aware, very large and fully represen
tative gathering of advanced agriculturist.
from every section and nearly every Stat.
Of this Union, you passed with emphasi,
and great unanimity, resolutions favorint
the passage by Congress of, first, the bill
for creating Secretary of Agriculture
Second, the Interstate Commerce BILL
Third, the bill to extend the benefits of the
Signal Service to agriculture. Fourth,
proper and effectual bill for the suppression
of pleuro pneumonia of cattle. Fifth
bill for the establi- -hment of agri
cultural experiment stations in the severa
States. Those measures are all pending III
one stage or another before Congress, and
we must do all we can to promote the
prompt passage of them at this session OF
Congress, and to cause it to be distinctly
understood that the agricultural vote of the
country will make itself felt npon these
questions in future State and Federal elec
tions. We know that our situation is des
perate. We believe we can be relieved to
great extent by wise legislation and we de
mand, and insist, that the effort be promptly
and earnestly made. We are not to be sat
isfed with Constitutional sermons. nor by
verbose and declamatory harangues. We
mean business, for without some measures
of relief our business is gone. As repre-
sentative body of American agriculturists,
we must make ourselves clearly understood
by American legislators. We cannot and
aciN not longer bear the burdens we are now
bearing without exhausting every effort in
our power tc be rid of them. There are
few or no farmers among the representa-
tives of the people, and they neither do nor
can understand the necessities of our case
unless we ourselves make them known and
cause them to be understood. We cannot
long conduct our business at an annual loss,
bearing at the same time enormous taxa
tion. The aggregate value of our products
is not the index of our prosperity, but the
measure of our losses from year to year.
We know that the prosperity of all classes
is bound up with the prosperity of agricul.
ture, and that the tension of the present
situation imperils the preservation of socia
order and the supremacy of the law. And
as representative farmers, Immediately
from, and representing the agricultural dis
tricts, appeal to you. not to adjourn this
Congress without, in your combined and
wisdom, demanding such redress
es from the Federal Congress as the de-
pressed condition of our great calling de-
mands.